While location is in the spotlight these days, most apps and services revolve around geosocial or other mainstream concepts. A new app launching from Hoovers aims to build on the location-aware mobile aspect when in comes to sales, prospecting and lead-generation in the B2B segment.
The app, dubbed “Near Here,” provides sales and business development professionals access to location-based business information on millions of companies in the United States and Canada in real-time. Easily viewable on a map or in a list, users can refine search results to meet their specific requirements by applying several criteria, including multiple ranges of revenue and number of employees at a particular location, multiple industries or a simple keyword search, and they can save those filters for future searches. The search area is adjusted by moving the map or changing the search address.
Based on the data provided, users can quickly and easily place a phone call to the company, visit the company’s Web site, get step-by-step driving directions and even find local competitors. Users also can sort companies in ascending or descending order by annual sales, company name or total employees, and bookmark their favorite locations for future searches and favorite companies.
Within the app, users can retrieve key data points on any business or organization in close proximity to their current location, including annual sales, primary industry, number of employees at any given location, key contacts and titles and much more. Users can easily get a clear picture of the businesses around them and determine whether or not it’s an attractive lead to pursue.
“We’re focused heavily on the design and supporting infrastructure of the Hoover’s Near Here App so that we can provide the best possible mobile experience to traveling sales professionals, who need to make use of every minute when they’re on the road,” said Peter Poulin, executive vice president of Hoover’s. “By capitalizing on the strengths of the devices we are ensuring that Hoover’s Near Here users have anywhere, anytime access to the information they need to do their jobs and grow their business.”
It’s an excellent idea and a use of location that hasn’t been tried before. There’s always been a lack of useful mobile apps for the B2B sector, especially when it comes to lead-gen, sales and business development and the Near Here app fills that void nicely.
